ASUU strike: The victor, the vanquished

The phrase “no victor, no vanquished” was made popular by former Head of State Gen Yakubu Gowon after the civil war. At a ceremony to receive the instrument of surrender from Biafra’s Gen Philip Effiong, Gen Gowon declared that the war, which lasted for 30 months, had ended with neither victor nor vanquished.

In the heat of the recent face off between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government, the Senate President David Mark, last October, urged the striking lecturers to call off the strike, saying there would be “no victor and no vanquished”. But is this really so?

The “no victor, no vanquished” cliché informed this piece as this writer is vehemently believe that there are victor and vanquished in the just-resolved disagreement between university lecturers and the government.

Anytime the ASUU goes on strike, certain individuals and organisations benefited immensely from it, and the recent one is not an exception.

It is important to note that many private universities within the country benefited from the industrial action, as many parents who can afford the high fees withdrew their wards from public school. Today, the private universities have increased number of applicants, compare to what it used to be before. Through this, the private schools become the victor.

Also, it should be noted that some business owners, companies, organisation and individuals got improve the productivity of their businesses with the cheap labour they got from the idle students. Many students engaged in menial jobs during the strike, even though the money they were been paid was not commensurate with the effort they put in. They accepted it just to keep themselves busy.

There are students who were paid little to do powerful jobs in bakery, pure water factory and even in bricklaying vocation. So the strike helped these business establishments to improve their productivity with the cheap labour.

It was also a victory for many universities outside the country, especially neighboring countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast and Benin Republic. It was reported that there mass exodus of students and lecturers to these countries in the throes of the strike. Today, findings showed that Nigerians now compete with their Ghanaians in staff and students’ strength in universities in Ghana. In the past, Ghanaian students trooped to Nigeria; but today, reverse is the case.

However, it was a great loss for many people, group including the lecturers. ASUU may not agree that it lost the fight, but the bitter truth is that the prolonged strike has created wound and damage that only time can heal. During the strike, ASUU’s rank depleted unabatedly as many lecturers left the country in search of greener pasture elsewhere.

As it is, the number of lecturers that left our public schools for private and foreign universities cannot be regained in the next two years. ASUU and the students have lost intellectuals that would take time to be replaced. All this happened because of prolonged industrial action.

Another great loser is the government and its officials. I considered them losers because they bear the burden of all other losers. In a country where a group of extremists are campaigning against education, they allowed universities to be shut for more than five months.

During strike, there was an increase in crime rate as idle youths took to crime. This would in turn affect government policies, programme and Transformation Agenda negatively because nothing positive can be achieved in an environment where crime thrives.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the industrial action affected and still affecting most Nigerians negatively. It affected the commercial motorcyclists on Samaru campus of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and pepper seller in Sabon Gari. Members of the host community of University of Nigeria, Nsukka complained of poor business activities because students are the consumers of their wares.

The song is the same at the University of Ibadan (UI) and even worst in Kano where business activities was almost brought to a halt as a result of the strike.

The so-called “greatest Nigerian students” in all universities are also losers. They lost their colleagues in accidents on their way to homes because of the strike; some have been handicapped as result of police brutality during demonstration. They also lost a very important quantity – time. And it was the same ASUU members that taught us that “time is money and time waits for no one”. But ASUU joined the government to waste our precious time.

To prevent further loss in future, ASUU should dialogue and negotiate with the government before embarking on strike; it must not go on strike before dialoguing. The government should also not forget that a stitch in time saves nine; it should respect the agreement and act as expected to prevent further waste of time in the future through needless strike.